


One Last Battle Before Sovengard

by orphan_account



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Avengers
Genre: Crack Fic, Dragons, Magic, Multi, Skyrim - Freeform, i seriously dont know what i was thinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-25
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-09 12:26:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/774168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When all of Tamriel could be threatened by a devastating force in Skyrim, who will be called in to defend their land and people?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting Natasha (Or how one Clint Barton got an assassin to lower her wall. Just this once)

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little prologue thing, this doesn't really have anything to do with the plot of upcoming chapters. :3

Trees rustled overhead, a rabbit darted trough the bushes, the soft sound of water babbling over pebbles indicated there was a stream nearby. This was a normal day for Natasha. Traveling through the woods filled with bears, and wolves, and all sorts of dangerous creatures. Considering who she was, though, the woods were like skipping through an open meadow on a brisk summer day, compared to what it would be like on the roads. It wasn't as if she couldn't protect herself either way, but she preferred scuffling with wolves than with guards. At least the wolves had some edible meat on them. 

 

Today had been normal - a little more productive than usual, but who cares anyway - up until this point. She had already the two contracts she had called out for in Riften, and only had another in Ivarstead before she needed to report back to the Sanctuary and be assigned more. 

 

It wasn't often that someone could sneak up on her, so when an arrow shot past her only grazing her right cheek to leave a small scratch, she immediately spun on her heel, digging into the coarse grass beneath her feet as she pulled her blade from it's holster on her hip. She scanned the trees, her green eyes piercing the leaves and branches, before a man came striding forward.

 

He was dressed in dark leather armor and a couple of hawk feathers protruding from his helmet. He had his quiver stocked with sharp, deadly looking arrows, his bow held at his hip. He looked casual enough as he walked, as if he had no single care in the world. His fingers of his free hand twitching restlessly against his thigh told a different story. He was ready to draw again if she made any sudden movements. 

"I didn't have to miss, you know, i only grazed you because i want to talk." He finally said, speaking slowly, as if not to agitate an angry cat.

She didn't lower her dagger, but some of the fire drained from her eyes. He caught this small act of acceptance and took off his helmet, hooking it to his belt on his hip. The hair that was revealed when the helmet was removed was a dirty blond colour, sticking out in small tufts. It resembled the dry grassy fields South of Whiterun. His grey eyes sparkled with interest.

 

"Who are you and what do you want?" 

Natasha broke the silence, narrowing her eyes at him until they were nothing but green slits against her skin.

"My name is Clint Barton, i'm an agent of Shield... And i've been sent to kill you."

She sneered at the mention of the agency and raised her blade again, the metal edge glinting in the sun. He sighed and slowly began to circle her, though he really didn't look threatening at all. Maybe like a kitten poking at a mouse, not really sure what it was supposed to do with it.

Before she could say anything, he started talking again.

"But, you see, Mis Romanoff, ma'am, i've read about you. I've read all the files we have on you, and i think that you could be a useful asset. You have a very particular skill set that not many other possess, and i was thinking that maybe... I could convince you to join Shield." 

Natasha frowned. The last place she wanted to be was with the biggest organization she knew that was out to kill her.

"I promise you, that if you join, there will be bigger opportunities than you have already. Also... It pays pretty well, more than killing for random citizens, i believe."

Natasha considered this an sighed, slipping her blade back into it's holster. 

"You have courage, i'll give you that. Standing up to me after shooting my cheek. You made me bleed a little."

Clint grinned.

"But, by Sithis, if you do it again i will make no hesitation to slit your throat and feed you to the wolves."


	2. His Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are his children, he doesn't care what you say. But Clint just doesn't trust them with his shoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a more silly chapter but it is gonna get more serious. And i'll have you know this was written on the spot at midnight right now so yeah, if you see any mistakes please point them out. Also, thanks for the views on the first chapter!! <3

He called them his children. Well, lets just get this clear first, he doesn't have any real children. He wouldn't know what to do with them in the first place. It's not like his father had taught him how to treat kids anyway. Howard had been a horrible father, and Tony had a feeling that deep down he was too. Of course, he would never know if he never tried. Maybe he wanted children, a secret urge deep down to be a father, to protect something of his own so fiercely. That's probably why he had his spiders.

The Dwemer spiders had been modified by his genius mind to have more intellect and... Feelings, to a certain extent. They couldn't talk, but that was probably good. He didn't need his machines to talk back to him. He already bound the soul of his favorite servant/friend to his house. 

It had been difficult, but he had succeeded with stunning results. Pepper had often walked in on Tony drunken and have a slurred heart to heart with Jarvis, which both had promised not to speak of again. The sight of Tony having a heart to heart with anyone, though, even just the disembodied soul of a man snared to the house, was enough to make Pepper smile.

~  
•  
~

"You, that isn't yours, stop touching that." Tony snapped with fond exasperation at the curious spider toying with one of Clint's shoes by the couch. The machine whirred sadly and knocked the worn leather garment off of it's "head". 

Steve was sat at the kitchen table, eating a salad (it was really just mostly cabbage. There were a lot of cabbages around). He looked up and raised an eyebrow as the brunet sauntered into the room, followed by his three favorite and most intelligent spiders. The soldier had never bothered to even try to learn their names, they were just machines anyway, and they all looked the same to him.

Tony hopped onto the couch next to Bruce, leaning against his shoulder and grinning at him. "Good morning, sunshine." Bruce teased blandly, not taking his eyes off of his book. "It's mid afternoon, and i must know... Did you stay up all night again last night?" 

The curly-haired man finally turned to look at him, pushing his glasses up his nose some. Tony just sighed. "Of course I did... But not really." He shrugged and looked down as one of the spiders followed him onto the couch and settled upon his thigh.

Bruce blinked at the machine curiously, and was a bit startled when Tony picked it up and put it on his lap instead. He raised a questioning eyebrow and Tony answered his unasked question. "I know you want to look at it, and it's like a cat, it'll just sit on your lap if you let it."

Bruce sighed and tentatively brushed his fingers along the metal on one of it's legs, smiling as the machine settled further onto his lap, seemingly comfortable if machines could feel comfort. "How did you make these again...?"

Tony smiled. "Well, I have a lot of Dwemer ancestry and a lot of these were handed down to me. I modified them so that they're less aggressive and more intelligent. It's simple." Bruce nodded along and smiled as Tony began to go into detail.

Clint eventually joined Steve at the table and frowned as one of the spiders skittered under his chair. "Those things are creepy." The archer whispered so Stark and Banner couldn't hear. Steve just chuckled. 

"They're just a bit odd, I don't mind them much."

Clint huffed and grabbed an apple, taking a large bite. When he was finished chewing he finally continued. "They are so fascinated in my shoes." He concluded, "When ever i see them, they're always picking them up or poking at them or you know, trying to catch them on fire!" Steve smiled a little. "Not funny, Rogers. One of them filled my boots with snow once." 

Natasha picked that moment to join them, perching on the table instead of a chair. "You deserved it." She muttered conclusively. Clint gasped. "I did not! What have i ever done to them?"

Natasha rolled her eyes. "You shot one, you kicked one, you locked one outside, you tried to drop one off the roof, would you like me to continue?" He shook his head, about to speak, when one of said mechanical spiders jumped up on the table next to Natasha. She stared at the creature momentarily before it made a move towards her and she just shoved it off the table.

"How come you're allowed to shove it off the table and i'm not allowed to kick it?" Clint whined childishly and Natasha turned her piercing green glare on him. "Because i was provoked?" She tried, shrugging and slipping off of the table to go patronize Stark on the couch. 

When she got there, Bruce had already left to go to his lab. Talking with Tony had given him some ideas on his work with soul gems. Tony was sat in the center of the couch, a spider settled on either side of him, until the one Natasha pushed off the table jumped up and settled on his lap. She let a rare smirk cross her face.

Tony raised an eyebrow up at her, a smirk of his own on his face. "What's so funny, Romanoff?" He inquired, stroking the detailed metal plates protecting the soul gems of the spiders. She sighed. "Have you seen yourself today, Stark? You and your... Cats." She teased. Tony laughed. "Oh, Natasha, i don't know what you're talking about because..." He made his face totally serious. 

"These are my children."


	3. Nothing Ends Well For Anyone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki is an ass, Tony is badass, Steve likes to save people's ass, and Clint gets lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating in a while, i've been busy 

Small, fragile, delicate, weak; four words that are never used to describe the elusive frost giants that lived upon the ice way to the North of Skyrim. They consisted of a large, singular family group. The Jotuns. The were larger and more intelligent than regular giants, and had blue hues to their complexion. 

As you know now, small, fragile, delicate, and weak are not words to describe a frost giant. So, when Laufrey's son, the prince, was born, everyone was a bit shocked. The infant was tiny, small even compared t a human baby. Normal giants would ignore the child if it was the runt, simple leave it out for the wolves. No. This was Laufrey's son, Loki, the prince. They were to protect him and shelter him from harm until he was old enough to defend himself.

Up high in the mountains to the East of Winterhold, was a city that was only ever seen by the people who call it home. It is the city of Asgard, and is often believed to be fake, a simple legend of a city of gems that can all but scrape the sky. It's a beautiful city, really. Very refined and elegant. Many called it a home for the gods.

Odin's son, Thor, was strong and healthy from the moment he was born. But the child still needed close protection. There was a war going on. War with the Jotuns. Thor was too young to remember the day, exactly, but one moment he was an only child... The next, there was a dark-haired, green-eyed boy that he called his brother. The two grew close, but Thor was always favored by Odin and the people of Asgard. He was much stronger, more out going. 

When they grew out of their childhood, Thor found company with Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. Loki tended to shy away and practice his magic in the shadows by himself.

He grew jealous of his older brother, and often thought about leaving, getting out of the way so Thor could have everything he wanted. Maybe, he even thought about getting Thor out of the picture, so everything would be his.  
~  
•  
~  
The armor whirred, creaking a bit beneath the pressure of the beast current trying to pulverize him with it's large claws. The frost troll was fitted in dark armor, contrasting against it's shaggy, dirty-white fur. It roared and reared up on it's hind quarters again, before bringing it's hands back down upon Tony's chest plate.

Tony grunted from the echoing sound bouncing around in the armor from the impact, bumping his face against the face plate and causing him to cut his lip. He managed to shift under the beast, and kick it square in the chest, managing to make it stagger back a bit, giving him some time to stand and aim. The blast from his palm was basically a very powerful form of magic, amplified by the blue disk on his gauntlet. 

The frost troll wailed in agony, clawing desperately at the chest armor that had shattered, the shrapnel digging into it's tough flesh. Tony stalked towards it, pressing down on it's chest with his boot to make it lie on the ground. It cried out and roared when he shifted the pieces, writhing desperately on the ground as it bled out.

"Now you know how I feel," he hissed angrily at the beast, grinding his heel into the beast to elicit a pained whine. He huffed and turned to leave, when another of the armored trolls leapt onto his back, startling a yelp out of him as he tried to shoot upward and shake it off.

He spun in the air ungracefully, the troll roaring and clawing viciously at the armor, refusing to let go. There was a loud metallic 'thwang', the sound of bones snapping, and a grunt from the beast clinging to him, before it fell off. 

Tony blinked curiously and looked around for what had snapped the neck of his attacker, and saw Steve catch his shield. Tony huffed and landed in front of him, lifting up his face plate to snap at him in irritation. 

"I could have handled that, you know!"

Steve rolled his eyes and threw his shield again, this time hitting a troll that was galloping towards Natasha. The beast crumpled to the ground, a loud wail escaping it's jaws. 

"You were about to run into one of the buildings, I was just helping you out."

Tony grumbled something under his breath and closed the mask, making sure that none of the trolls on the ground were getting into the buildings that the people of Whiterun had fled into.

Clint was perched on one of the taller buildings, making sure none of the trolls made it into Dragonsreach. He drew an arrow, aiming precisely at the rather large troll that came galumphing down the path. 

Letting go, he watched as the arrow shot out, twirling through the air with deadly accuracy. It hit it's target with stunning accuracy, piercing the troll's right eye.  
It roared and backed up on it's hind quarters, clawing desperately at it's face. 

With a flick of his wrist, the arrow embedded in the troll's eye socket exploded, hardly giving the beast time to realize what was happening before it crumpled to the ground, dark smoke curling out of it's now-empty and shattered skull.

One more down. About twenty left to go.

"Brother, stop this nonsense and come home! You will achieve nothing by ravaging the homes of the innocent." Thor and Loki were on one of the buildings, grappling like wild animals. 

Loki sneered, wiping away the blood that dripped down from his cut cheek. "I'm not your brother," he snapped, "I never was, and I never will be."

He lunged forward, his hand connecting with Thor's midsection to slice him with a small hidden dagger. The larger man cried out before reaching to grab the long dark hair that had gotten a bit wild and messy from their fighting. 

Loki twisted in his grip, snarling and lashing out with his scepter , before quickly disappearing. Really, it shouldn't have surprised him, Loki was very skilled in magic. He grunted and fell to his knees as he was kicked from behind. He looked up to see Loki stalking back around in front of him, smirking.

"When will you ever learn that I will always best you in strategy?"

Loki cackled, his voice hissing and catching creepily as he laughed. He pointed his scepter at Thor, who was still trying to recover from the fight. Suddenly, there was a roar from behind the smaller man. It was different from the roars of the trolls, deeper, more... Human like. 

Thor looked up to see a huge figure looming over Loki, tinted green and bulging with impressive muscles. Loki's eyes went wide for a moment, and he froze up. The Hulk roared again, seizing the man in his hand and slamming him against the roof of the building multiple times. 

When he let go, Loki groaned and stood, gathering himself before glaring up at the green behemoth. 

"How dare you bully me, you dull creature?!" He spat. The Hulk growled challengingly. Loki went to raise his scepter, but the Hulk batted it out of his hands, hitting the small man onto the ground below. 

Everyone turned to look, including the trolls, as Loki slammed into the cobbled path, laying limply on the ground. A curious troll padded up and nudged at it's leader's boot, earning it a sharp kick to it's muzzle. It yelped and growled at the rough treatment, but knew better than to attack the man.

Loki stood shakily, favoring his right leg as he turned to look at all of them. The doubles of himself that he had going after Barton vanished, and he smirked. "I promise you, this was only a taste of what is to come." He climbed upon the back of the troll, much too injured to do anything else.

He whistled for the remaining trolls to follow, galumphing away from their targets to follow him out of Whiterun.  
Nobody pursued him. They had to deal with more important matters.

Tony landed in front of the Hulk, lifting his face mask and chattering quietly with him until he calmed down and shank back to Bruce, who gave in and cuddled up against Tony's armor because it was warm and he was only partially dressed.

Steve and Natasha helped to find all of the dead or dying trolls and pice them up around the small well in the center of the market place, setting them to burn.

Thor stood and picked up Loki's scepter, eyeing it curiously. He jumped down from the roof along with the rest of them, huddling around the burning corpses of the trolls. Though it reeked, the warmth was nice this time of year.

Steve stepped forward and took the scepter, looking it over with a frown. "Loki left his scepter?" Thor nodded as Steve handed it over to Tony. 

"Now what are we supposed to do with that thing?" He inquired, looking at the two geniuses as Bruce joined Tony to ogle the thing in excitement. 

"Bruce and i can look it over and examine it later... First i think we should help with some clean up, a lot of the houses are damaged and people could be hurt."  
Everyone nodded and agreed, turning to go find something useful to do, while Tony went to get Bruce some clothes.

"Wait."

Everyone turned to Natasha.

"Where's Clint?"


	4. The Mice and Mara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the cats are away the mice get to play, and all that jazz. Things don't go as planned for Tony though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. Gah! I've been having some serious writers block and I've been very busy recently. School gets out the 14th so hopefully there will be mote frequent updates.
> 
> Anyway, I know this chapter is a bit off topic, but I wanted to get a bit more into the Tony/Bruce in here. Also, none of this is beta'd so please kindly point out any mistakes. Anyway, enjoy!

Natasha is back at the Shield head quarters, working on finding Clint. Steve is there too, helping with a strategy to bring him back. And Thor... Thor is just following them because Fury needed to talk to him about Loki. 

You know what that means?

When the cats are away the mice like to play, and all that jazz.

Tony liked it when it was just him and Bruce in the lab together, they worked in a comfortable silence, sometimes broken by a small rant of evidence towards a new discovery, or maybe a warm joke. Anyway, they were quite close, closer than Tony had been to anyone in quite a while since Pepper.

He didn't know why he didn't see it coming. Of course, being with the Man of Iron puts a lot of stres on the other's shoulders that they really don't deserve. Pepper didn't deserve the stress of not knowing if Tony would come back to her. She still ran his company for him, but they avoided each other as much as they could so not to invoke anything awkward again.  
Bruce had been so tense and cautious when they had first met. He looked a little shocked as Tony had extended his hand for a shake, while looking pleased to do so. 

After spoiling the man as muh as he would let him, softening him up with friendly jokes and banter, the weary-eyed man slowly began to be truly happy. His smiles were no longer forced, but were instead his goofy, lopsided smile that made Tony all gooey on the inside.

Yeah, Tony liked to be alone with Bruce. And more specifically, he liked Bruce. 

Tony grinned as he sauntered into the room, his hair damp and maybe dripping a bit from his earlier bathing. 

Bruce was steady working at one of the tables, prodding at Loki's scepter carefully. When he looked up, Tony was greeted with that puppy-like 'There you are!' smile that took his breath away every time.

"How is the research going? Find anything interesting?"

Bruce pushed his glasses up on his nose further, his eyes focused once more. "Yeah, I have actually.. See, there is this small cube up here in the tip of the scepter-"  
Tony wasn't paying attention, not really. He knew it was something probably important, but he could have Jarvis repeat it to him later. He was too busy making an excuse to be close to Bruce.

He crowded in close, looking over Bruce's shoulder as he pretended to be looking at the staff. He didn't want to say that he was sniffing Bruce's neck per-se, but he could smell the slight musk that clung to the man's skin. Mixed with a hint of those exotic herbs and maybe a bit of the lab. Something uniquely Bruce.

He could have sworn he saw Bruce shiver as he breathed against his neck, but the thought was lost as he heard the man chuckle, turning to look at him over his shoulder. Their faces were teasingly close, and Tony wished he could do something about it, but he was convinced he would scare Bruce away. 

"What?" He asked flatly, a little confused.

"You're in my personal space... And you're dripping on me."

Tony grinned and draped himself over Bruce's back. "Personal space? I have no idea what that is."

Bruce rolled his eyes and shrugged Tony off, turning o face him fully and rest his back against the table. "Obviously," he quipped. These little friendly spats were good, they kept them both on their toes. He took his glasses off, fiddling with them in his hands as he looked down in that characteristic way of his.

Tony chuckled and pulled up a stool, sitting down in front of him. "So, Banner, everyone else is gone, just the two of us here, and we are NOT staying cooped-up down here. What do you want to do?"

"I wouldn't mind just taking a stroll around.." Bruce shrugged and slipped his glasses back into place. "Outside of Whiterun, though... I don't really want to see the damage."

Tony's face lit up at the idea and he stood, anxious to get outside and alone with Bruce. "Right then, grab your coat and we'll head out." He spun on his heel and sauntered back out with his slightly bow-legged strides. 

Tony grabbed his coat from his room and was pulling it over his arms, when he saw it sitting on his dresser. He wasn't one for the Gods and Daedra, so he honestly didn't know why he had it. But it was there anyway, so he grabbed it.

The amulet of Mara slipped easily over his head, while the actual amulet part settled neatly over his collar bone. He grinned. This might actually be useful.

He met Bruce at the door and they walked side-by-side down past the market place and partially destroyed houses that still smelled of burnt Frost Trolls. Once out of the reeking city, Bruce smiled and sighed a breath of relief, and Tony could have sworn he had an actual skip in his step.

They meandered around over the hills, forgoing the cobbled road because there were guards there that made Bruce nervous. Tony wandered ahead a bit, before he simply sat down upon a rather large and flat rock, leaving a slightly confused Bruce to follow along at a slow pace and clamber onto the rock beside him. 

"Any particular reason we're up here?" Bruce questioned in amusement, tilting his head to the side as Tony lie down on his back with his hands folded behind his head to form a make-shift pillow. 

"No," The man replied easily, staring up at the sky. It was a light blue, with bits turning darker with pink and purple and gold hues where the sun was threatening to set. Bruce nodded slowly, looking Tony over and examining him with the sharp eye of a scientist. 

His rich brown eyes settled on the golden disk with intricate swirls and a dazzling blue gem in a center. He narrowed his eyes, and made a confused noise.

Tony heard him and assumed that he had seen it, so he smirked and rolled onto his side so he could see him, resting his arm on his side in an attractive manner. "Something wrong?" He all but purred. 

"Is.... That an amulet of Mara?" 

Tony grinned. "It is. Why do you want to know? Interested in me, are you?"  
Bruce sputtered and blushed, looking away. Tony just sat up and bit his lip mischievously as he leaned forward towards the man. "Come on, Banner," he licked his lips, practically shaking with excitement, "Are you going to say anything else?"

Bruce's next actions started both of them, actually. There were three possible one way answers for this scenario; 

1) Storm off  
2)Kiss him  
3)Talk about this rationally

Well, Bruce did two out of the three. First, he grabbed Tony's head and gave him a rough that left the man speechless and dizzy. Who knew Bruce was such a phenomenal kisser? Well, Tony now, obviously. When he finally snapped out of his Banner-Kiss induced coma, the man in question had already stormed off and was halfway up one of the hills, his arms folded over his chest as he tried to control his anger and breathing as he high-tailed it out of this awkward situation. 

Tony was conflicted. Bruce had kissed him, that meant he was interested at least. That's a plus. He also didn't say anything, and that's a bit worrisome. Then there was the whole storming off thing. He didn't know what just happened, bringing two fingers to touch his tingling lips where Bruce's has been pressed just moments ago.


	5. Homeless Thieves And Cons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has a break down and intel on Loki is uncovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHITSHITSHIT I AM SO SORRY FOR ANY OF YOU THAT ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT THIS OH MY GOD I RECENTLY GOT OUT OF SCHOOL AND STRESS AND WRITERS BLOCK IM SORRY BUT THIS SHITTY CHAPTER MAY BE ABLE TO MAKE UP FOR MY ABSENCE, MKAY?

It wasn't very noticeable at first, nobody really cared all that much in the first place. If Bruce and Tony avoided each other when the rest of them returned from SHIELD, so what? They didn't know what happened while they were gone, and none of them really wanted to know. They were more focussed on finding information on Clint's whereabouts.

Everyone had pretty much resorted to sulking around the house as they waited for news. Bruce only seemed to leave his room in the early hours of the morning, when the sun was just peaking up, for food and then he would disappear again. Natasha is even quieter that usual. She just grabs some food, alcohol, and a blanket, before going up to the roof. Tony spent almost all of his time in his workshop. Thor, surprisingly, didn't even try to cheer people up. It was too quiet without Clint, nobody was acting normally.

Except for Steve. Losing a soldier was nothing new to him, and he still continued with his daily routine of jogging in the morning, eating, and checking up on the team. 

About a week after the whole incident Steve headed down to Tony's workshop to remind him to eat. He was immediately hit by the stench of alcohol when he opened the doors, and looked to find Tony slumped against one of hit tables, surrounded by empty bottles and a mostly empty one dangling from his fingers. 

"Cap'n." Tony slurred in greeting, giving a weak laugh that turned into coughing and then sobs. 

Steve had seen Tony on his bad days, always locking himself away with a bottle and his thoughts. This was a fair example of one of those days. 

He sighed and made his way over to Tony, resisting the urge to gag at the scent of it all. He took the current bottle from his hand and set it to the side, crouching next to him.

"Tony," he murmured, "Is everything alright?" 

The response he received was what he assumed to be one of Tony's 'Are You Serious' looks, but he was looking a bit to the left of Steve's head and his eyes were a bit crossed. 

"Does every... Everything look 'alright' to you?" Tony grumbled, looking down at the floor. "Clint's missing and Bruce is upset with me."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "What did you do to upset Bruce?" He huffed and helped Tony sit up a bit more when he began sinking. 

"I... We went for a-a walk." He looked Steve in the eye the best he could. "I, uh... I brought this." Steve groaned when Tony held up the amulet. 

"He kissed me, then.... Just ran... Ridiculous, right?" Tony gave that weak laugh again, letting it dissolve into coughing and sobbing.

Steve sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Tony should have known better. They were lucky Bruce didn't leave all of them. 

"Come on, lets get you up to bed, you can sleep this off." Steve scooped Tony up in his arms with a grunt, the man a dead weight, and carried him back upstairs to his room while the spiders cleaned up the mess

 

~

 

"We've got news."

Natasha made her way into the living room where everyone had gathered, awaiting her return. She had headed out to the Shield base last night alone, and everyone had been nervously awaiting her return.

"We know." Tony interjected. "That's why you left in the first place. Just spill and leave out the boring bits." The look she sent Stark had him curling up next to who ever was closest on the couch, who happened to be Thor. 

"Anyway," she started again. "We have reason to believe that Loki is hiding out in Riften. We're hoping that he'll have Clint there with him." 

She didn't say the 'alive' part there at the end, but everyone just assumed (hoped) that was the case. She turned to Bruce, who was on the opposite side of the room as Tony. 

"Banner, I think it would be best if you stayed here. We need you to continue your research on the scepter."

Bruce nodded and wrung his wrists. Natasha turned to Tony and Thor, and Tony looked almost hopeful for a moment before Natasha's words cut off his thoughts. 

"Thor, you'll stay with him. I know how he and Tony both can get when they get deep in research. Remind him to eat and sleep at least once a day."

Thor nodded and Tony, no matter how much he denied it, pouted.

 

~

 

The three of them - Tony, Steve, and Natasha - left at dawn the following morning with all of their gear. Tony kept his suit packed in it's case, but Natasha and Steve were dressed in their suits, prepared. They arrived at the gates of Riften a few days after their departure.

Steve walked up to one of the guards, who whispered something to the guard to his left and they both snickered quietly. Steve cleared his throat and drew their attention back to him, an annoyed look already crossing over his face.

"I'd hate to intrude on some private joke of yours, but I would appreciate it if you did your actual job and opened the gate for us."  
The guard to the right smirked and raised an eyebrow. 

"Oh, you didn't hear the news then, ey?" The man hissed. "Gates here don't open for nobody unless the fine is payed." 

He seemed to think for a moment. "One hundred gold." He seemed content with that and stuck out his palm, expecting payment.

Steve frowned, batting the hand down. He shrugged his shoulders, making the sharp edge of his shield glinted in the dull light and the guard to the left seemed to take a step back.

"Son, just don't." Steve said. Behind him Natasha flashed her blades, her glare seemingly made of daggers as well. Tony smirked, rolling his fingers idly as sparks flickered across the leather of his gloves. 

The guard to the left, who had stayed silent most of the time, pulled the first back and clapped a hand over his mouth before he could argue. He murmured a quiet apology and had the gates opened for the group of three.

Steve smiled and walked right in, followed by Natasha and Tony, who turned and stuck his tongue out childishly before swishing his hip and following the other two.

The city was grimy, dark, and smelled of fish. The people that accumulated near the well and market place at the center could be described the same way. 

"I knew there was a reason I've never been to Riften." Tony piped up, causing the two others to turn and look at him.

"Look at it. It's disgusting. It is the example used when talking about the lower - and no, I don't just mean South - regions of Skyrim. The people here are all thieves or homeless or scheming cons. And if they aren't, they're too afraid of you being a thief or homeless or a con to even talk to you." He sighed and peeled a glove off his hand with his teeth, running said hand through his hair before slipping the glove back on. 

"Loki will fit right in here. If we want any chance of finding him then we're going to have to act local and ask some of the homeless thieves an cons."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also yes I know that isn't exactly what the guard says but I don't care this isn't actually following the plot line of the game anyway. Point is; sassy Riften guard. Good enough for me.


End file.
